It appears Canadians looking to buy a home in another country are taking a bit of a breather.
Mexico, the U.S. and Costa Rica remain the top three international destinations for Canadian homebuyers so far this year, according to a new report from real estate website Point2.
“Although the same three countries occupy the podium as last year, not only has their order changed, but the number of searches dropped in all three,” said the Aug. 23 report, which analyzed 2,000 real estate-related keywords.
Searches for U.S. properties decreased by 40 per cent between June 2022 and June 2023, with online searches for Mexico decreasing by 24 per cent and Costa Rica by 20 per cent during that same period.
“China and Canada remained first and second in U.S. residential sales dollar volume at [US]$13.6 billion and [US]$6.6 billion, respectively, continuing a trend going back to 2013,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist of U.S.-based National Association of Realtors, said in a separate Aug. 1 report.
Searches declined year over year among eight out of the 10 most popular destinations among Canadian homebuyers, with the U.S. taking the biggest nosedive.
“Sharply lower housing inventory in the U.S. and higher borrowing costs across the world have dented international buyers for two straight years,” said Yun in the report.
“However, recovering international travel following the end of the pandemic will bring more foreign transactions in coming months and years.”
Canadians looking for homes in Mexico are “probably” Generation X buyers, said the report. Six out of 10 buyers who browsed Mexican properties are men. And of those, 21 per cent are between the ages of 45 and 54.
Those 25-34 and 35-44 are driving real estate purchases in Mexico more so than retirees.
“People aged 65 and over, who might be interested in warmer climate areas to search and buy a home for retirement are outnumbered by their much younger peers,” said the report.
Interest in detached homes and condos was split almost equally at 49 per cent and 45 per cent of online searches, respectively. Real estate searches for land accounted for six per cent of all searches.
